Faith in the Past
by packleader96
Summary: When an old friend from his past returns, Flame, along with his friends and family, are yet again, thrown into another adventure, can Flame save his friend, or will he fail to protect those he cares about the most. Rated T for Language, Violence, and Some Sexuality.
1. prologue

**A/N: I have wanted to start this story for some time now, but never had the time, now I do, so I hope you enjoy.**

**Faith in the Past: prologue**

(Manehatten, residential district)

It was a cold, peaceful night over the big city, Luna's bright moon, hung high in the air, illuminating the city, many ponies had finished the day's work, and returned to their homes, to relax and rest, but the same could not be said for the mare that ran through the alleys of the streets.

She ran down through the alleys, and down the streets, ducking behind large dumpsters, desperately trying to escape her pursuers, but had no luck so far.

She was breathing heavily, never having a chance to stop and catch her breath, in fear of being caught, and that was the last thing she wanted to happen, she ran down the street, luckily there wasn't a pony in sight, but even if there was, she wouldn't be able to call out, her heart beat against her chest as she ran, her hooves begged her to stop, but she knew she couldn't.

"Come back here, you bitch!" one of her pursuers yelled, she looked back at them, and then forward, she saw what looked like an alley way coming up a few yards away, as she got closer, her guess was right, she took a look back at the ponies pursuing her, they slowly began to gain on her, she knew what she had to do.

As she got closer, luckily for her, she was a Pegasus, she extended her wings, and used them as breaks, she began to slow down, but as the alleyway grew closer, she did a sharp turn and flew into the alley, her pursuers, shocked by her speed, passed the alley, and skidded to a halt, they immediately, turned and ran into the alley, much to their surprise, they could not see her.

"Where did she go, you think she made a break for it?" one of them asked, as they began to turn around, but were stopped by the leader of that group, "no, she still here, she's just hiding, spread out, find her, and bring her to me, or the boss will have our heads" he said as they all slowly began to make their way down the alley, unfortunately for them, it was a very long alley, and it branched off at some points.

The tired mare peeked out from her hiding place, and watched them as they began to make their way down the alley, she knew she couldn't stay long, but she took use of this time to rest her aching hooves.

Just as she looked around the corner again, she failed to notice the pair of hooves coming from behind her, she cried out in surprise as she was pulled back, and pinned against the wall, a hoof being placed over her mouth, she tried to cry out, but was unable to.

"Faith, calm down it's me" the pony holding her down, said in a hushed voice, she opened her eyes and looked up at a stallion, smiling down at her, she felt her eyes tear up partly, as she looked into the face of a stallion she thought she would never see again.

"Dawn, is that you?" she asked as the hoof was removed from her mouth, he smiled down at her, "yeah I'm here, it's okay" he said, Faith smiled and threw her hooves around his neck, and placed her lips up to his, the motion shocked the stallion, but he relaxed and kissed her back, and soon they separated, and she looked up at him.

"How did you get away, the headquarters was attacked, how did you escape, I saw you get captured" she said with sorrow, the stallion just smiled, "well yeah, but these guys underestimated me, plus I had a little help" he said motioning to the shadows as another pony stepped out with a smile on his face, a face that Faith recognized instantly, she smiled.

"I thought you two would have some sort of escape plan, knowing you two" she said with a smile, "yeah, well, I've been saving this guy's butt, for many years now, and it's getting tiresome" he said as he walked past them, and peered out the alley, and looked as the pursuers, walked ever more slowly.

Faith placed her head against Dawn's chest, "I thought I wouldn't see you again" she said, Dawn just smiled and placed his head on hers, they stayed like that, until the third one came up with a more serious expression.

"okay, well I hate to be the one to ruin this special moment of yours, but those guys are getting closer and closer, we need to get out of here, like, right now" he said, as they separated and he helped her up.

"What's the plan, boss?" he said walking up to the pair, Dawn just frowned, "for once, Iron Star, I really don't know, we need help, all the others members were captured" he said, his friend looked towards him nervously, "yeah, but we need to find a pony, we know we can trust, this city is crawling with spies, we need to know who we are trusting" he said, Dawn began to pace, while Iron Star peeked out into the alley, and saw that the pursuers, were even closer.

"I think I know a pony we can trust" Faith said, with a sad look on her face, when she said the other two looked towards her, "he's an old friend of mine, his name is Flame, I'm sure I told you about him before" she said walking up to them, when she mentioned his name, they were both shocked but Dawn spoke up.

"yeah, I think I remember that you told me of him, but didn't you say it's been years since you last saw each other, you went your separate ways, how do you know he can help, if he even remembers you?" dawn asked, faith looked up at him.

"he'll remember me alright, true, it has been a long time since we've even spoken to each other, but if there's anypony we can trust, it's him, he won't let us down" she said with confidence, Dawn sighed, "alright fine, where does he live anyway?" he asked, Faith bit her lip, and looked at him nervously, "last time I checked, he lived in PonyVille with his wife" she said, they all got surprised expressions, when Iron Star spoke up.

"PonyVille? That's at least a two day train ride, we don't have time" he said, but Dawn stopped him, "alright, if she says we can trust him, than he's all we got, here's the plan, Iron Star and I, will cause a distraction, while you make your way to the train station, after we lose them, we'll meet you there" he said, but Faith protested.

"What, no, we can't split up, we need to stick together, how do I know you will make it?" she asked, Dawn grabbed her by the shoulders, "if we don't make it tonight, take the train, we'll join you later on, no go, we don't have much time, we'll take care of these morons, now go!" he said, Faith stared at him, she knew she could trust him, but she had a feeling in the pit of her stomach, one that she couldn't understand, but she had no choice, she looked at him one last time, and ran out into the alley way, catching the attention of the pursuer's.

"Hey, there she is, after her!" they yelled as Faith took off running down the alley, and them following in pursuit, just as they passed the place where she was hiding, Dawn and Iron Star, came out and rammed two of them against the wall, catching the attention of the others, the rest of them stopped, and began to join the fight, but were stopped by the leader, "no, you two, go after the girl, I'll call for reinforcements, bring her to me alive" he said as the two took off, and he reached up to his ear, and pressed the button on the small earpiece.

"we found two of the leader's, we need more reinforcements" he said as he ran and tackled Dawn who was beating up one of the others, Dawn was one of the best fighters in his group, but having been weakened from his earlier escape, his fighting ability was drained, as he tried to fight off his attacker.

"where did you send her, tell me and I might not kill you" he said, as he pinned him down, Dawn just looked up at him, "not a chance!" he said as he spit in his face, causing him to loosen his grip, giving Dawn the opportunity to punch him in the stomach, and knocked him off.

As he did, he turned and saw, that more and more ponies came down the alley and surrounded them, he turned and saw Iron Star punch off another attacker, and turn to him, he walked up to him, and brought out his pistol, and got it ready, as well as Dawn.

They watched as another pony walked in front of the other's, and faced the two of them.

He smiled as he looked towards Dawn, "well, you two have made quite an in scene, fighting in the middle of an alley, with homes all around, why don't we stop all this, let's not make this any messier"

Dawn just scoffed, "why would we do that?" he asked, as the leader just smiled, "well, we can always force you, you're clearly outnumbered, it's your choice" he said, Dawn just smiled and looked back at Iron Star, "you ready?" he said back quietly, Iron Star smiled at him, and Dawn turned to face the leader, "oh yes, I'm ready, but not for what you have in mind" Iron Star said with a sinister smile on his face.

"we may be outnumbered, but your clearly outmatched" he said with a smile, but was shocked when the leader started laughing, and look at him with an amused look on his face, "are we really?" he asked, Dawn was about to ask what he meant, when he felt the muzzle of a pistol, being placed at the back of his head, his eyes widened in shock, as the leader started chuckling, Dawn slowly began to turn his head, only to see that the one pointing the pistol at his head, was none other than, Iron Star, who just smiled at him.

"Iron Star, what is this, you're working for them?" Dawn asked in disbelief, Iron Star just chuckled as he began to make his way around them, and back up to the others, "it's nothing personal boss, but if I learned anything from you, it's always make the smart choice, as the old saying goes, if you can't beat them, join them" he said, Dawn's disbelief, began to become replaced by anger.

"You lying, traitorous son of a bitch! How could you, I thought we were friends!" he shouted, Iron Star just kept the pistol, aimed at him, but still answered his question.

"We still are, but let's face the facts, what chance do we have, if we choose to fight them, what hope is there, the smart thing, would be to join them, all you have to do is just lay down your weapons, and surrender" he said, Dawn looked around him, knowing he couldn't win this fight.

He looked up at Iron Star, with hate in his eyes, "there's always hope, I'm sorry you can't see that, but I would rather die, than join these bastards" he said, the leader took a step forward, "that can be arranged" he said, as he motioned for some of his group members to step forward, and attack Dawn, they charged forward, and Dawn blocked the first blow, but only, to receive a hard punch to the stomach, knocking the wind out of him, and sending him to the ground, he groaned as he was picked up by two of the soldiers.

The leader walked up to him, and smiled, he then turned and began walking away, and the others began dragging Dawn with them, as they returned to their headquarters.

After they split up, Faith kept on running, desperate to make her way to the train station, she had to get to PonyVille, and she wouldn't let anything stop her, as she continued to run, she turned down another alleyway, and stopped when she heard approaching steps.

She looked down each direction, "hello, Dawn is that you?" she asked, when she received no answer, she started to walk, and when she heard the steps getting closer, she turned around sharply again, "who's there? Show yourself!" she shouted, she got her response when she was rammed from her side, and pinned against the wall, she looked up only to see one of her pursuer's smiling at her.

"you wanted us to show ourselves, here we are, you're coming with us, but maybe we will have a little fun with you first" he said with a sick smile, Faith's eyes shot open, and she growled, she acted fast and brought her head forward, and head-butted the stallion, causing him to reel back in pain, he yelled as he pulled out his knife, and charged at her, screaming, as the other one followed, unfortunately, Faith's energy was low, and she was unable to fight, as well as she normally could.

When he was a few feet in front of her, she knew exactly what to do, she waited until he was a foot from her, she reached out her hooves, moved to the side, grasped his head and neck, and pushed him past her, slamming head first into the wall, instantly knocking him out, she smiled as she watched him fall to the ground unconscious, but the she heard the other stallion, charge at her.

She turned around just in time, to see the stallion's knife coming at her, she leaned back, but she was too slow, she cried out in pain, as the blade cut into her left shoulder, she fell back and put a hoof on her shoulder, it was already bleeding, the blade had cut deep into her shoulder, but not enough to immobilize her, the stallion charged at her again, swinging his blade wildly, he brought it down on her, but Faith raised a hoof up, and blocked it, he pounced on her, desperately trying to push the blade down on her throat, and due to her injury, Faith was failing.

She looked up at the stallion, and saw him with a sinister smile on his face, she knew what she had to do, she acted fast, and brought her back hoof, up into his stomach, his eyes widened as he lost his grip, giving faith a chance to punch him in the face, knocking him off her.

As he tried to catch his breath, Faith grabbed his head and slammed it into the wall, knocking him out as well, she stood in the alleyway, both of the attackers unconscious, and she knew she had to get out, she took a step with her left hoof, and cringed and almost fell down to the ground, but caught herself, she stood up again, and placed a hoof on her shoulder, it was leaking blood, it was hurting greatly, but she knew she wouldn't have time to properly tend to the wound, she had to get to the train station.

Being an expert in medicine, she knew exactly how to heal a knife wound, or any type of wound, but she neither had the time or the resources to heal it, she got an idea, and walked up to one of the unconscious stallions, she saw that the one, was wearing a cloak, she grabbed it and ripped a part of it off, and gently wrapped it around the wound, and tightened it, so that it would stop the bleeding.

And with that she took off into the air, and flew towards the train station.

(Manehatten, train station)

Despite her shoulder being injured, she used her cloak to cover the bandage, trying to avoid suspicion, she was still able to fly, but not very fast, and she arrived at station, not long after she left the alleyway, she looked up and down the platform, and saw very few ponies waiting for their trains, or waiting for visitors to arrive.

She calmly walked up to the ticket booth, trying not to make it look like she was limping, she walked up and saw an elderly pony behind the booth, reading a book, when she walked up, she caught his attention, he smiled at her as he lowered the book, "can I help you miss?" he asked, Faith did her best to smile, and act calm, "yes, I would like a ticket for your next train to PonyVille" she said, as she brought out a bag of bits, and paid the proper amount, and the stallion gave her the ticket, as she reached out she cringed and the older stallion noticed this, "are you okay miss, rough day at work?" he asked with a smile, she just chuckled and did her best to act innocent, "yeah, I guess you could say that" she said as she grabbed the ticket.

"so what's in PonyVille for you anyway, if you don't mind my asking" he said, she smiled up at him, "um…an old friend of mine, it's been a while since we've seen each other" she said putting the ticket in her cloak, "well, I hope you find your friend, the train will arrive in an hour's time, I hope that's not a problem?" he asked, she smiled up at him, "no that's fine, and thank you" she said as she walked away, "have a nice trip" he said to her as she walked out on to the platform, and took a seat, on a bench.

After waiting for some time, the train arrived just in time, and she walked on, handing the ticket to the conductor, she found her way on to the train, and took a seat, luckily she was given a sleeping car, it was a two day trip to PonyVille, she would use the time she had to rest, the tiredness from the days 'activities' finally caught up with her, she felt like she could sleep for a whole day, she leaned her head against the window, and slowly closed her eyes, letting sleep take her.

**A/N: I wanted to upload this earlier, but I decided to wait until after the holidays, so here you are, more chapters will come later.**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: hey guys, I'm back with another chapter, hope you all enjoy.**

**Faith in the Past: chapter 1: the beginning of a normal day**

It was early in the morning over the peaceful ton of PonyVille, and families were just beginning to wake up and start their days work, the same went for some of our favorite hero's.

Flame opened his eyes and found himself inside his own, comfortable bed, staring at the ceiling, as his hearing came into focus he heard the bedside alarm ringing in his ear, he turned his head, to the side with a groan, he rolled on to his side, and reached out and turned off the alarm, and then rolled over on his back with a sigh.

He sat up in bed and turned to his side, and saw his wife still sleeping, he smiled and leaned over, placed a hoof on her shoulder and gently began to shake her, until she stirred, "Twilight, it's time to wake up" he said as he kissed her shoulder and moved to get out of bed.

As he did, Twilight herself groaned and pushed herself out of the bed with a yawn, Flame went to go brush his teeth, while Twilight took a shower, as went their usual day, when getting up, and they both made their way down to the kitchen for breakfast, as they got closer they could hear chatting, they walked in and saw their two foals already eating breakfast, and setting up plates for them.

"Well, what's the special occasion for, son?" Flame asked as they took a seat at the table, Night Gale just smiled and levitated a plate in front of them, and sat down, "oh nothing, just thought we would cook this time, it's been some time since we cooked last" he said as they all sat down and conversed, and planned out the day.

Night Gale and Star Dust were on their spring break, and were home visiting for two weeks, until they would have to return to Canterlot, and begin school again.

After eating breakfast, Flame learned that they were running low on supplies, so he talked it over with Twilight, and she agreed that they would go out to the market place to pick up more groceries.

After making a list, Night Gale offered to come along and help them, they both agreed, but Twilight decided to stay home, and give the two stallions some time to talk, while Twilight and Star Dust stayed to run the library, while they were gone.

After getting the list made, both Flame and Night Gale got their bags together, and headed out into town, to get what they needed.

But little did they know, that this was not going to be any ordinary trip to the market, they didn't know it yet, but things were about to get interesting.

(PonyVille, train station)

Faith awoke to the sound of the train engine going off and the train cars slowing to a stop, she opened her eyes, and saw as the train came to a stop in the station, she looked out the window and saw her destination, PonyVille.

It had been a long time since she was here last, but she knew her friend was here, she could feel it in her gut, as she pushed herself off the seat, and landed on her hooves, an intense sharp pain shot up her left front hoof, almost causing her to fall to the ground, and she remembered that she needed to heal the knife wound from two days earlier, she would have stopped at one of the stations to heal it, but to her own knowledge, she slept through the entire journey, which was unusual, in her earlier years of training, she was taught to stay awake, fight, and do all sorts of things, with very few hours of sleep, but that wasn't her main concern now.

She lifted her cloak up, although the piece of cloth was tied around the wound, she could tell it was soaked with blood, but she couldn't stop now, she was so close.

She did her best to put on a straight face as she got off the train and left the station, being expertly trained in medicine, she knew that an injury that was not tended to, would make the pony feel very weak and tired, and that was exactly how she felt.

Despite sleeping for a long time on the train, she felt as if she could sleep for another day, but she didn't have the time, she had to find Flame, she kept telling herself to push forward, even with the stinging pain on her shoulder, but she had no choice but to ignore it.

She left the train station, and headed into the market place, that would be the first place she would look, but she failed to notice the three mysterious stallions, watching her as she walked into the crowd, they all looked at each other, and nodded, they then proceeded to follow her, making sure not to lose sight of her.

Things were about to get interesting.

**A/N: this chapter turned out shorter than I planned, but there will be more later, see you guys then.**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: hey guys, I was bored at the time, so I decided to write the next chapter for this story, hope you all enjoy.**

**Faith in the Past: chapter 2: an old friend**

As Faith made her way to the market place, she did her best to keep a low profile, but to her misfortune, her wound made her feel weaker by the second, and to only make it worse, she had no idea what Flame might look like now, whether he was older, had a family, for all she knew, he could be dead, but she had to press on, it was her only hope, after not spotting him, she made her way out of the crowd, and tried to spot him from there.

The market place was especially crowded today, which only made her job harder, but soon her patience paid off, as she looked to her left, and found a familiar looking stallion, standing in front of a stand, looking at vegetables, a younger stallion standing beside him, with a bored expression.

The younger one, had some similar features, she thought he might have been a distant family member, but that wasn't her concern, there he was, her oldest friend, he looked much older and more mature, he mane was slightly longer, his facial features had changed, and he had a short beard under his chin.

She couldn't stop staring at him, her first impulse was to run at him, and throw her hooves around his neck, but she knew that it wouldn't be the smartest move, suddenly seeing an old friend after this many years, would be quite a shock, she had to find another way to approach him.

While she thought of this, she failed to notice that her staring at him, caught his attention, because he was now looking back at her, she gasped and ran into one of the nearby alleys, fearing that she might of have given herself away, but luckily he did not chase after her.

(Meanwhile…)

As Flame was looking through the vegetables to see which was ripe or not, he chuckled as he heard his son's bored sighs, but after he decided which one was good, he told the pony behind the stand, and he walked back to get some fresh ones, as he reached into his bag to get the proper amount of money, and placed it on the table, something caught his eye.

He turned to the side, and outside the crowd, stood a mare with a hood staring directly at him, her hood covered her eyes, but he knew she was looking at him, he could feel her gaze, but strangely, something about that mare, seemed faintly familiar.

The more he thought about it, her long mane, the features on her face, it reminded him of a pony he knew long ago, seeming to notice him looking back at her, she suddenly bolted, into one of the alley's, Flame thought about going after her, but he was brought back to reality, when the pony returned with the fresh vegetables.

"Hey dad, is something wrong, you suddenly looked spooked?" Night Gale asked, Flame turned to him with a smile, "no I'm fine, come on, let's finish up and head back home" he said as they left and walked up to the next stand.

(Alleyway)

Relieved that she was not given away, she took a deep breath, and limped down the alley, until she came to the exit, she looked around the corner, and saw him again, looking over vegetables.

She sighed and began to slowly back up, when she heard a deep voice from behind, "well, well, well, looks like we got her boys" said a male voice as she turned around, seeing three hooded stallions, staring at her, the looked big and strong, and in her weakened state, she wouldn't be able to fight all of them.

"sorry, I think you might be mistaken" she said trying to sound innocent, two of them began to laugh, but the group leader just smiled, "oh no, it's you we want, our boss would like to have a word with you, you left town before we could get to you" he said as they all began to close in on her, she knew she was done for, her only hope was to try and scare them off, she tried standing up on all fours, despite her wound.

"back off, I do know how to fight, I don't want to hurt you" she said but a sharp pain shot up her leg, and she leaned down grasping her shoulder, the others just laughed, "hurt us? You can't eve stand up straight, this is going to be easier than I thought" he said as they got closer and closer, until one of them lashed out, she tried to raise a hoof to defend herself, but the wound slowed her reaction time, and she was struck in the face, making her fall to the ground, she pushed herself up, and tried swinging a hoof at one of them.

The leader just caught her hoof, grabbed her by the back of the head, and slammed her hard into, the brick wall, almost knocking her out.

(Market place)

As Flame finished up the shopping list, he turned to his son, who had a relieved look on his face, "uh finally!" he said as they began walking, Flame looked down at him, with a chuckle, "hey, you volunteered to come, but now that we have the list done, maybe your mom, can make that stew she loves so much" he said with a chuckle, Night Gale faked a gag, "I thought you didn't like mom's cooking earthier?" he said, Flame hesitated, but chuckled, and spoke in a monotone voice, that made him sound like he was in a trance.

"I love your mom's cooking, it's the best in the world" he said in an eerie voice that made them both laugh, "wow, she has a tighter leash on you, than I thought" he said, Flame looked down sharply at him, "you have no idea" he said with a wink, making Night Gale stop in his tracks, and shutter, only making Flame laugh, as they continued walking.

Just as they did, Flame heard something that made him stop, dead in his tracks, when he stopped walking, Night Gale turned to him with a worried expression, "dad, is everything okay?" he asked, Flame raised his hoof silencing him, "listen, don't you hear it?" he said, and Night Gale began to listen, and soon he heard it, they both looked at each other and nodded, it was the sound of a pony in trouble, and it was coming from the alley.

They both took off running, and they stopped in front of the alley, and just as they thought, they saw three big stallions, cornering a mare, her body was full of bruises and scratches, the sight of it only made Flame angry.

"Hey you three!" he yelled catching their attention, and that of the mare, "hey this isn't your business, get out of here, while we still let you, you and your boy" they said as they turned back to her, but Flame wouldn't have it.

"three stallions, ganging up on a defenseless mare, it is my business, back off or you'll regret it" he said in a threatening tone, that even surprised Night Gale, Flame couldn't explain why he did this, but he couldn't just stand by and let a helpless mare suffer, but he also felt another need to protect this mare, but he couldn't explain this.

The three stallions turned to him, "listen old man, I don't know if you're crazy or not, but son, you better keep your crazy dad out of things he shouldn't be messing with" he said looking at Night Gale who stepped forward, and took a defensive position.

"Yeah he's my dad, but he isn't crazy, get out of here, or like my dad said, you'll regret it" he said, they failed to notice as the mare crawled away in pain, and hid in the shadows.

"alright, but it's your funeral" he said as the three of them began to circle them, but Flame and Night Gale stayed close, normally in this kind of situation, Flame would have told Night Gale to run, but he knew that Night Gale could handle himself in this kind of situation.

They both looked at each other, and smiled, the three of them, lashed out, but they were no match for Flame and Night Gale's fighting skill, if they tried to punch Night Gale, they would only end up punching their friend

The leader refused to give up, as they all were beaten down, but he soon, pushed himself up, "enough!" he shouted, and the other two came by his side, "okay, you win this fight, but you better watch your back, next we won't go so easy" he said as they all ran off down the alley.

Flame grunted as he rubbed his shoulder, it had been a while since he fought like that for real, Night Gale took a deep breath and calmed down, "you okay dad?" Night Gale asked, Flame just nodded his head, and began looking around for the mare.

He got his answer when he heard a weak voice come from behind, "F-F-Flame" said the voice, they turned around and saw the hooded mare limping towards them, she looked in terrible shape, the stallions must have really did a number on her.

"Are you alright miss?" Flame asked, but something about her looked very familiar, not that he got a closer look, her voice sounded similar too, like one he hadn't heard in a long time, "wait, how do you know my name?" he asked, as the mare reached up and removed her hood, revealing a pony, Flame hadn't seen in years.

"Flame it's me" she said, limping towards him, "F-Faith, is that you?" he said in disbelief, she kept walking towards him, Night Gale was confused by everything that was happening, "I-I-I need your help, please" she said as a pained look took over her face, and she fell on her front hooves, and then fell on to her side with a pained grunt.

"Faith!" Flame cried out, as he ran to her side, and rolled her on to her back, she was already unconscious, her breath was very low, almost too low to hear, he placed his hoof on her neck and sighed with relief, "she still has a pulse, but she's in bad shape" he said examining the multiple wounds on her body, "who is she, dad?" Night Gale asked, flame didn't turn to him, but answered his question anyway.

"She's…an old friend, we have to get her some medical attention, she's extremely weak, I know just the remedy, we have to get her back to the library, quick, help her on my shoulders" he said, as Night Gale lifted her up.

"if she's injured, shouldn't we take her to the hospital, they'll know what to do" he said, but Flame shook his head, "no, she needs attention now, if she doesn't get any, she'll die, let's get her back, come on" he said as they hauled the unconscious mare, back to the library.

Indeed, it did turn out to be an interesting day, but it was only going to get worse.

**A/N: well, that was certainly interesting, not the best of reunions, hope you all enjoyed, see you all next time.**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: like I promised, the next chapter for this story would be up soon, hope you all enjoy.**

**Faith in the Past: chapter 3: healing wounds**

It had been some time since Flame and Night Gale left for the market place, and it was getting late, Twilight was getting more worried by the minute, she paced back and forth in the main room, Star Dust just watching her pace back and forth.

"Oh, what is keeping your father and your brother; they've never been gone this long, it's not like them" she said worriedly, Star Dust just sighed, her mom would always get like this for the most pathetic reasons, "mom, the market place was probably more crowded today, I'm sure they're just taking their time, I'm sure everything's fine" she said with a smile.

Just as she did, the front door flew open, and there in the door stood Flame, with what looked like, an unconscious pony on his back, Night Gale walked in behind him and closed the door, and switched the open sign to close.

"Flame, what is this, who is she?" Twilight asked worried about the fact that he brought a stranger into the house, he looked at her, "Twilight, I'll explain later, she needs help, get the guest room ready, she needs medical attention" he said, Twilight was about to protest, but Flame looked at her seriously, she closed her mouth and ran ahead.

After walking down into the guest room, Flame placed the unconscious pony on the bed carefully, Twilight gasped when she saw who it was, "is that…?" she asked but Flame beat her to it, "yeah it is, we found her in an alley, getting beaten up by three other stallions, she was in really bad shape, she needs help now" he said as he began examining her wounds.

He noticed that there was a cold sweat running down her forehead, and her breathing was shallow, Flame undid the cloak, and pulled the blanket over her, as he removed it, he noticed a piece of cloth tied around her left shoulder, he touched it, it was soaked, with a red liquid.

He gently untied it, and removed it, all of them gasping at what they saw, on her shoulder, there was a deep knife cut, it was no longer bleeding, but the wound was beginning to swell, and the skin around it was slightly discolored, even though she was unconscious, her breathing was heavy, and she grunted in pain, as Flame ran a hoof over it.

"What kind of wound is that?" Star Dust asked, Flame frowned, "one I haven't seen in many years, it's definitely infected, but the wound itself is only two days old, wounds don't get infected that easily, I have seen this before, many years ago" he said, turning to Night Gale, "night gale, go get me that book on exotic poisons, it's in our personal library" he said and he ran out of the room, while Flame turned back to her.

"What was she doing there?" Twilight asked, Flame sighed, "I'm not sure, but we'll find out later" he said as Night Gale ran back into the room levitating a book, Flame took it and flipped through the pages, until he found what he wanted.

"Here it is, it's a special type of poison, the poison itself does not affect the victim, it is used by assassins mainly, the tip of their knife is dipped in the poison, and all they have to do is hit their target with the tip, and the poison enters the wound, it causes the infection early, and the cure is hard to find, but I think I can make it work" he said putting the book down, and turned to his family.

"alright, I need a few things, you'll have to get them for me" he said as he began telling them what he needed, "what's the hurry, she doesn't look nearly as bad as some of the symptoms in this book" he said Flame frowned, "trust me, I've seen this before, if it goes untreated, the victim could die, and from what I'm seeing, she doesn't have much time left, now hurry up" he said and Night Gale ran out of the room, while he tended to the other smaller wounds.

Lucky for Flame, he didn't have to wait long, soon they all returned with the ingredients and he began mixing them together, "you never told us who she was, you obviously know her" Night Gale said as Flame put together the remedy, "yeah I do, she was a friend of mine, we haven't seen each other in a while, I've known her a long time, back before I ever met your mother, we worked together, she was our team medic, she was a master at all types of injuries, and she knew how to heal them, she taught me this trick, I only hope it will work" he said as he finished the remedy.

He put it on the table, and it turned out to be a cream like substance, it had a pinkish color to it, Flame dipped his hoof in it, and turned to Faith.

Her breathing was becoming more and more heavy, despite being unconscious; her eyes were clenched shut, she was obviously in pain, sweat ran down Flame's face as he placed his hoof over the wound, and slowly began rubbing the cream over the wound, and the infected area around it, she cringed at the contact with the wound, and Flame had to go slower, but soon he finished.

The cream seemed to blend with her coat, after a few long moments of waiting, Faith's breath seemed to slow to a more normal, and her clenched eyes relaxed and her head turned to the side, and made it look like she was sleeping, Flame sighed and turned to the others, "is that it is she going to be okay?" Star Dust asked, "it's too soon to tell, the remedy has to get rid of the infection, but it looks like she will be fine for now, more cream will have to be applied tomorrow, soon it should work, and she'll be fine" he said as he walked past them, and wiped his face from the sweat, and looked back at his family.

"she should be fine for the night, but will need to take turned tending to her until she wakes up, let's get some sleep, that's enough excitement for one day" he said as he left the room, Night Gale and Star Dust just looked up at their mother with worried faces, he looked back at them, and motioned for them to go to bed.

Indeed, it was a rough day, but in the following days, it was only going to get more interesting.

(Two days later…)

Just like Flame told them too, they all took turns taking care of Faith, even in her unconscious state, Night Gale and Star Dust still could not fully understand why he cared for this mare so much, but when he told them who she was, they finally did.

It was now Flame's turn to go and check on her, he opened the guest room door, and calmly walked in; he looked towards the bed, and sighed.

She was still asleep, over time the medicine did its job, and the wound shrank more and more, until it was merely a simple cut, by this time the remedy had fought off the infection, now all they could do was wait for her to regain consciousness.

Flame sat by the side of the bed, her breathing was regular, but she still showed signs of sickness, even when she woke, she would be extremely weak, they tried giving her water, and food but they did not have the resources, other than opening her mouth and pouring in very small amounts of water, to keep her hydrated.

Flame sighed and took her hoof, she seemed to flinch at his touch, but she calmed down, Flame said just above his breath, "just hang on Faith, you'll be fine" he said, as he stayed there for a few minutes.

(PonyVille public library, main room)

Twilight and her two foals, walked around the room, Twilight was trying to occupy herself, by moving books around, as she normally did, when bored and found absolutely nothing to do.

Night Gale and Star Dust helped her, but a question kept nagging at the back of their minds, and finally Night Gale decided to ask, "hey mom, why does dad care so much for this mare, we barely know her, and he says he hasn't seen her in years, why does he insist we care for his friend?" he asked, Twilight sighed and turned to him.

"listen, her name is Faith, your father has known her since he was a young colt, they grew up together, and after their friend died, they were all they had left, your father and I got married, and they went their separate ways, but they still remained friends, they had been through a lot together, your father had obligations to this family, but he still wanted to stay in touch, but she never wrote to him, and they just drifted apart, and now she shows up, after years of absences, no note, or warning that she was coming, the reason he cares for so much is because, they were the best of friends, I'm sure you would want the same for your friends, if you lost contact after all these years" she finished just as Flame walked up into the room.

Night Gale and Star Dust were shocked by what they heard, they knew that she was his friend, but not to that scale, they just watched as Flame walked up to them.

"How is she?" Twilight asked coming up and nuzzling him, "she doing better, the medicine did its thing, all we have to do is wait for her to wake up, it shouldn't be long now, we just have to keep taking turns, if she does while I'm not there, come and get me, but for now let's just go about our business, it's time we open the library back up" he said as they all did their own thing.

But soon, things were only going to get more interesting.

**A/N: well there you have it, I will be posting more chapters for this story as well as chapters for the others, see you guys then, peace.**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: well, here we are again, yet another chapter, as every chapter goes by; we get closer and closer to the big finale, sit back and enjoy this new chapter.**

**Faith in the Past: chapter 4: awakening**

Faith was still asleep, her breathing had become as it should be, slow and steady, the medicine did its work, her wounds were healed, all that was left, was for her to wake up, but her mind was filled with thoughts, even though she was asleep, dreams filled her mind, some were pleasant, but other sent fear into her mind, she dreamed of what might have happened to Dawn, as well as what happened the night before they left, how they got separated, and how they ended up in that alley.

(Faith's dream)

Faith paced back and forth in the master bedroom, Dawn was called to a meeting with his advisory council, it was the one thing he never liked doing, ever since he took control of the group from his father, who died a year ago, and left control of the organization to him, they were a small mercenary group known as the Nightfall fighters, Dawn never liked attending those meetings, and this time was no different.

Faith paced back and forth in their master bedroom, they had been married for three months now, and as part of custom Faith was allowed to attend these meetings if she wished, but she preferred to stay out of it, she stopped pacing, when the door flew open, in walked Dawn mumbling to himself, "those stupid arrogant bastards, I don't know why I even put up with them" he said as he walked past her, "let me guess, they didn't approve of our recent job" she said walking up to him.

He took a seat on the side of the bed, an angry look on his face, she walked up to him, and sat next to him, and placed a hoof on his shoulder, "it's going to be okay Dawn, don't let them get to you, those idiots don't know anything" she said in a comforting tone, but Dawn was too infuriated to calm down so easily.

"How can I, those bastards have been on my back, about every little choice I make, since the day my father passed down power to me, they were always trying to gain power from him, and they're doing the same with me, they even tried to tell me not to be with you, it was their first impulse to kick you out, both my father and I, saw something that they didn't, we saw a great fighter in you, and I still see it now" he said, turning from her, she sighed and walked up to him, "I know, but they're not the leaders of this group, you are, your father trusted you with this position, your more to these ponies than a leader, you're a friend, a brother, and a good guy, they look up to you, don't let those morons tell you otherwise, you are a wonderful leader, your brave and strong, but most importantly, you stay true to your heart and do what's right, and that is what matters" she said, holding him close.

She heard him chuckle lightly, "you are quite a good speaker, what would I ever do without you?" he asked, she just smiled, they stayed like that for a while, but were interrupted when they heard a low rumble, that very slightly shook the room, they looked up.

"probably just an air ship passing over, it happens all the time" he said as he looked her in the eyes and smiled, she leaned up and kissed him on the lips, a gesture he greatly accepted and returned, they stayed like that, and deepened the kiss, until they heard another rumble, only louder and closer.

"Dawn, I don't think that's an air ship" she said with a worried look on her face, he looked at her and then made his way to the door, just as he was about to get there, a loud explosion shook the room, shaking them off their hooves, "get down!" he called out, as the door flew open, and in ran on of his sergeants, with a panicked look on his face, "what is going on out there?" he asked as they walked up to him, "it's the kings, they started a war, we need to get out of here, the warehouse above is surrounded, our forces can't keep them at bay for long, we need to evacuate, what are your orders, sir?" he asked, Dawn looked at Faith with a worried glance, and she returned it.

He sighed and turned to the sergeant, " give the order to evacuate, get everypony in the compound, into the escape tunnels, those who get out, tell them to meet at the safe house, Faith you should go with them" he said, Faith had disbelief in her eyes, "what, no, I can help, I won't leave you" she said in protest, Dawn placed a hoof on her shoulder, and looked her in the eyes, "I'll meet up with you later, I need to go and help the others evacuate, and slow them down as much as possible, just trust me, we'll see each other again soon, I promise" he said as he kissed her on the lips one last time before he ran down the hall, "come on, we need to get you to the tunnels" the sergeant said as he grabbed her hoof and they ran down the hall, in the opposite direction.

(Reality)

Faith opened her eyes, but she could not see, only a white light, soon her eyes began to adjust, she found out that the sun was shining directly in her eyes, she attempted to turn her head, but found it hard, she felt extremely weak, thirsty and hungry, her throat was very dry, and it almost hurt.

As her eyes fully began to adjust, and she managed to turn her head and look around the room, but was unable to life her head to get a full view, soon her hearing adjusted, and she heard a pony walking around, and eventually up to the bed, when she turned her head to, she saw a young mare, much younger than herself, looking down at her with a gentle smile, "glad to see your finally awake, my dad will be thrilled" she said, Faith tried to talk, but her throat was too dry, and no words came, out, the mare smiled and reached over to the bed side table, Faith found herself, in a room she did not recognize, but it was filled with many shelves, all filled with books.

The mare brought out a glass of water, the sight of it, made Faith feel happy, she tried to life her head, but found it hard, the younger mare just brought a hoof behind her head, Faith did not like the idea of having a stranger so close, but she didn't seem to mean any harm, and she was giving her water, she knew she had no choice but to accept.

"Slowly, I'll help you, you need to regain your energy, this will help" she said as she helped lift her head up enough, to tip the glass and let the cool liquid touch her lips.

As the water poured into her mouth, and down into her throat, she instantly felt it help, her throat was no longer dry as a desert, to her surprise she drank down the entire glass, and the mare gently pulled the pillow up, so she was in a more upright position.

With her throat no longer dry, Faith found herself able to talk, "thank you" she said, in a dull voice, she may have been able to talk, but her voice came out low and raspy, the young mare smiled, "it's not me you should be thanking, my brother and my dad found you in an alley, you were in a pretty bad shape, my name is Star Dust" she said in a kind tone.

While Faith still held some suspicion towards this pony, there was something familiar about her, a certain aspect of her personality, the way she spoke, plus her coat color, her eyes, all reminded her of an old friend.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Star Dust, but where am I, what is this place?" she asked as Star Dust levitated over another full glass of water, which Faith downed easily, "you're in the PonyVille public library, this is the guest room" she said, Faith reached over and placed the cup on the stand, already feeling more rejuvenated.

"how did I get here, what happened to me, all I remember is these three stallions, cornering me in an alley" she said rubbing her head with her hoof, when she noticed the bandage on her shoulder, she was shocked and looked under it, and saw what was the final stages of a healed knife wound, she looked back at the mare.

"my dad and my brother found you, those stallions did a big number on you, my dad said that you were very sick, he was desperate to save you, you should thank him, he used a special remedy, it healed the wound in a few days, it shouldn't bother you now" she said as she got up and put the glass away, Faith was shocked by what she heard, she had been asleep for a few days, she remembered that she supposed to meet Dawn, and she tried to get out of bed, and was met with a sudden wave of weakness, that made her lay down in bed, taking a deep breath, the mare walked back over to her with a worried look.

"How long have I been out?" she asked, the mare thought for a moment, "it's been about…three days now, you were in bad shape, it took a while to fully heal your wounds, but my dad said you would still be very weak, when you woke up, and he wasn't kidding, he said that you needed to stay in bed, until you can even stand on your hooves without falling" she said with a small smile, Faith looked at her in interest.

"Your father seems like a good stallion, what is his name?" she asked, Star Dust seemed taken aback by the question, but answered it none the less, "his name is Flame, he said he was a friend to you, I need to go, he said to get him when you woke up, I'll be back, stay in bed" she said as she ran out of the room, when she said that name, her jaw nearly dropped, if what she said was true, she was Flame's daughter, it really had been a long time, she even mentioned a brother, after the last time they talked, he had fathered two foals, a son and a daughter, she was overall impressed, she never thought that he would be the father type, but he managed to set aside his old life and settle down, the possibility was very high.

She waited for a few minutes, for the younger mare to return, and after a while the door opened again, she walked in, and stepped to the side, letting three other ponies enter the room, when they all stood there, only one pony caught her attention, there he was, her old friend Flame, standing there with a smile on his face, as he started walking over, she couldn't believe it, he had grown a lot, even after all these years he was still physically fit, he never got lazy.

"well, look who finally awake, how you feeling Faith, you've been out for some time" he said as he came to the side of the bed, Faith just smiled, "well, I owe it to you, I should have known you would have used that trick I showed you" she said, knowing they both wanted to, Faith threw her hooves around Flame, and he did the same, normally if it was just any other mare, Twilight would have felt jealous, that another mare's hooves were wrapped around her husband's neck, but she made an exception this time.

"oh Faith, it's been such a long time, you're starting to look older" he said with a smile, Faith pushed him away, just seeing him, gave more energy, "I look older?, look at you, I think I see a little gray in your mane" she said in a joking matter, they both burst out laughing, as well as the others, just let out small chuckles.

"I understand you've met my daughter, and this is my son, Night Gale" he said wrapping his hooves around both of them, "and of course, you already know Twilight" he said, she looked at his daughter and his son, they both shared some similarities to him, but they were small, "well, it's very nice to meet you both, thank you for taking care of me" she said as she tried to push herself out of the bed but her new found energy suddenly drained her, and she fell back with a grunt, Flame stepped forward with worried look, "your wounds may be gone, but you're still weak, you need to rest, and regain your strength" he said helping her sit up.

"to think I used to take care of you and Skywind when you guys got injured, your acting like my mom, when I got a cold" she said with a slight chuckle, Flame just smiled, suddenly Faith felt her stomach growl loudly, making her blush, Flame only smiled, "looks like your stomach finally caught up with you, haven't eaten in a few days does that" he said as her turned to Twilight and Star Dust, "Twi, could you make her a bowl of soup, something that she can digest easily" he said, at first Twilight was hesitant, but she knew how much he cared for her, she nodded and ran off, Star Dust joined her, and soon Night Gale left the room, leaving the two of them.

"Don't you worry, she may not be the best cook in the world, but Twilight's cooking won't kill you, but it should help" he said getting up, and heading to the door. "I've had enough of almost dying in my life, I guess you could say the same" she said with a smile, Flame just smiled back at her, and closed the door, leaving her to her thoughts.

She just looked out the window, she decided to close her eyes, it had been so long since she last saw him, she drifted off into a light slumber, and dreamed about the many adventures they had when they were younger.

**A/N: well that was interesting, hope you all enjoyed, more chapters will be up later, peace.**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: well, I was bored, so I decided to write another chapter for this story, and so on, for the other stories, so here's the next chapter, enjoy.**

**Faith in the Past: chapter 5: explanations**

As Faith slept, she dreamed of the last time she saw Flame, the day of his wedding, to Twilight, they went to talk privately, and she told him that it was time for them to go their separate ways.

(Faith's dream)

It was the day of Flame's wedding, and everypony was at the reception, Flame and Twilight, had already had their first dance, and they went to enjoy their friends company, Twilight went to talk with her friends, who served as her bridal maids, Flame walked out onto the balcony, levitating a glass of champagne.

"well, I never knew you to be much of a drinker Flame" he heard a female voice say, he turned and saw Faith walking towards him, he smiled at her and took a sip, "well, it's a special day for me, you know that" he said, as she walked up to him, she looked inside and saw Twilight talking with her older brother and sister-in-law.

"Ah Flame, she's very beautiful, how a mare like her, would fall for a guy like you, it puzzles me" she said, he gave a small chuckle, "do I hear jealousy in your voice?" he said, teasing her, she just laughed at his comment.

"Me, jealous of you, that'll be the day" she said as she got right next to him, and enjoyed the view, he took a deep breath and turned to her.

"So, what are you going to do, now that this is all over?" he asked with a more serious look, she sighed and looked around.

"Not sure, but I think it's time I move on, find a new life somewhere else, away from all this, maybe I'll head to Manehatten, or something, I don't know" she said looking at him, he looked down for a minute, "well, if you need a place to stay for a few days, I'm sure Twilight will let you stay at the library, at least until you get your things together" he said, she just smiled and looked him in the eyes.

"I appreciate the offer, but I can take care of myself, maybe I can find a job somewhere, but…let's just agree to keep in touch" she said with a smile, he looked at her and smiled back, "of course, just promise, you'll behave yourself, and don't get into too much trouble" he said, she fully turned to face him.

"you know I don't make promises like that" she said, they stood there, she moved forward and wrapped her hooves around him, he stood there, and hugged her back, feeling his eyes tear up, soon they separated, and looked into each other's eyes.

"bye Flame" she said trying to hold it together, he was one of her oldest friend, he was like her brother, and now they were saying goodbye, for who knows how long, he smiled at her, "yeah, bye Faith" he said and she turned and began slowly walking away, Flame just watched as she walked away.

When she finally disappeared from his view, he sighed, and wiped away the single tear from his cheek; he turned and walked back into the party, to join his new bride.

(Reality)

Faith woke when she heard the door opening, she rolled on to her side, and saw Twilight walking in with a bowl of soup, she smiled as she placed it on the bed side table, "I can't thank you enough, for letting me stay here, while I heal, I owe you a lot" she said, Twilight looked at her and smiled.

"you don't owe me anything, I know you mean a lot to Flame, more than I may understand, I may be his wife, but you're his oldest friend in the world, your more than welcome to stay here as long as you like" she said in a kind voice, Faith smiled as she left the room.

Just as she left the room, Flame walked in with a smile, and approached the bed; he sat right by the bed, "you feeling better?" he said kindly, she smiled at him.

"Yeah, I can't thank you enough Flame" she said trying to sit up, Flame stepped forward and helped her up, she sat up straighter in bed, and turned to face him, and took a deep breath, she noticed the look on his face, it was one only she could recognize.

"I know what you're going to ask, you're going to ask what I'm doing here in the first place, right." She asked looking at him with a suspecting eye, he just shrugged and looked at her, "you could say, the question has been floating around in my mind, care to start explaining" he said getting comfortable, she sighed heavily and looked away for a minute, and then turned back to him.

"okay, I guess I should start at the beginning" she said adjusting herself, to get more comfortable, she took another deep breath and started, "it all started after I last saw you, at your wedding, I did just what I said I would, I tried to start a new life, I took a train to Manehatten, and tried to find a job, it's hard to find a normal life after the way were lived before, how could I, it was the only thing I knew, I guess you could say I became a solo mercenary for hire, doing various jobs in the city, and surrounding major cities, the pay was really good, and the work wasn't bad, considering that we were trained to be warriors" she said, Flame just listened, intrigued by how she lived her life, after they last saw each other.

"But…over time, I guess I caught the attention of a larger group of mercenaries, known as the Manehatten Kings, I guess you could say that they didn't like me taking away job opportunities, so they wanted me out of the way, but a much smaller group, known as the Nightfall Fighters, saw me as a valuable asset, and they offered a position with them, so I took it, the leader was a great stallion, honorable and wise, his son, Dawn, was just like him, I could immediately tell he had a crush on me, just by the way he acted" she said with a smile, remembering what it was like when she first joined.

"And over the years, with my advanced skill, I quickly rose through the ranks, until I was one of their top mercenaries, Dawn and I, became sort of a pair, we both fell in love, it all seemed perfect, Dawn was training to take command from his father, but then about a year ago, tensions rose between the groups, and the Kings dealt a crippling blow to the Nightfall Fighters" she said looking away in sadness, Flame reached forward and put a hoof on her shoulder, comforting her.

"Faith, what happened?" he asked, not wanting to push her, but still wanting to know, she sighed and looked at him again, "during a meeting with the leader of the Kings, Dawn's father was assassinated by the leader, his death shook them, he was a great leader to them, more than just their leader, he was a friend to all of them, Dawn took command shortly after, tensions rose greatly after that day, almost to the point where it would be open war, Dawn wanted to see them pay, but he knew it wouldn't be what his father would want, but it wasn't all bad either" she said with a smile forming on her face.

"only a few months later, Dawn and I got married, it was a happy day for all of us, but, I could tell that there was something inside of Dawn that changed, after his father died, he never seemed quite the same, but we continued on, doing our job…until a few days ago" she said as a pained look came over her face.

"the Kings decided to take full control of the city, and eliminate all competition, and launched an attack on the headquarters, of every other mercenary group in the area, we managed to get most of our friends out, we got separated and agreed to meet in the city, we knew we couldn't handle him on our own, we needed help, but we needed a pony we could trust, I knew we could trust you Flame, as much as it pains me to drag you into this kind of life again, but I need your help, Dawn was supposed to meet me here In PonyVille, but that was days ago, I fear that he might have been captured" she said with a fear-filled look on her face.

Flame looked away for a minute, and then stood up and walked around the room, lost in deep thought, Faith felt her fear grow, she was afraid that he would refuse to help, but she couldn't blame him, he had a family to take care of, she just waited patiently for him to respond.

"I told myself that I would do whatever it takes to avoid that kind of life, I have other obligations now" he said in a serious tone, Faith felt her heart drop, she looked down in shame, but stopped when Flame spoke up again, "but I also remember the promise that I made, that I would help you, whenever you needed it, no matter the cost, I told myself that I wouldn't live that life again, but there's no way I can avoid it, I wanted to protect my foals, but they got caught up in this mess as well, they know what it's like, and Twilight has been putting up with it for almost eight years now, she know, I'll always be there to help you Faith, your my oldest friend, that means your family, and I do whatever it takes to protect my family" he said with a smile.

Faith looked at him with tears in her eyes, not tears of fear or shame, but tears of joy, she leapt forward and threw her hooves around his neck and pulled him into a hug, he was shocked at first, but greatly returned the hug, "you have no idea how much this means to me, thank you Flame" she said as they separated, Flame merely smiled and began making his way to the door, before he reached it, he turned back to her.

"get some rest, you can't stay in bed forever, you'll have to walk again sooner or later, we'll try going for a walk around town later" he said with a smile, she just smiled back, "that sounds great" she said, Flame smiled at her and closed the door.

Faith smiled as she lay down again, strangely she felt more tired than she had before, and she slowly closed her eyes, and drifted off into sleep.

**A/N: sorry it took me this long to get the chapter up for this story, but here we are, hope you enjoyed, see you guys next time.**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: well, I decided to write the next chapter for this story, now is when things get more interesting, hope you enjoy.**

**Faith in the Past: chapter 6: a day in town**

After Faith woke up from her rest, Flame and Night Gale helped her out of bed, being that she hasn't walked in a few days, she made great progress, and managed to stand on her hooves without support, and managed to walk around the room, only stumbling once or twice.

Just as they agreed earlier, Flame and Faith decided to go for a walk, "Twilight, Faith and I are going for a walk, do we need anything from the market?" he asked, Twilight came walking down the stairs, "not that I can think of, I went yesterday" she said with a smile, Flame smiled back, and they made their way to the door, "okay then, we'll be back later" he said as he opened the door, and Faith stepped outside, "okay, be careful" she said as she walked into the kitchen, Flame rolled his eyes and closed the door.

When he did, Faith took a few steps out, she sighed happily as the wind blew through her mane, it's been a while since she was outside, "wow, I really needed this, I feel much better" she said as they started walking, Flame decided to give her a little tour of the town, starting in town square.

Slowly, they made their way through the streets, just watching the ponies do their everyday worked, at certain points they would stop and look at small shops, since Flame was very well known through the town, a lot of the ponies would say 'hi' to Flame, in a friendly manner, Faith was surprised at how well known he was, but remembered he had done many great things for this town and its citizens, she was surprised he never ran for mayor, he probably would have won in an instant.

As they made their way through the streets, Faith was amazed at what she saw; the town was so peaceful, and quite, unlike the bustling streets of Manehatten, where everypony seemed to be in a hurry, but not here, nopony seemed to be in a rush, and everypony she met was as friendly as could be, she had always wanted to live in a nice town like this, but she had other thoughts on her mind.

After taking her threw the streets, he decided to pay a visit to Sweet Apple Acres, to see Dark Star and Applejack, and so they walked along the dirt road, until they came up to the large sign overhead, as they walked past the sign, they saw Applejack pulling a fresh pale of corn, when they walked up to her, she turned to them with a smile, "oh howdy Flame, who's your friend?" she asked with a sly look, but Flame just gave her questioning look, and she smiled nervously, but decided to introduce her.

"Everything fine Applejack, this is Faith, you remember her, right?" he asked, Applejack undid the cart from her back, and walked up to her, taking a good look at her, "yeah, ah do remember you, you were there the night Flame helped us escape from the guild, all those years ago" she said with a hint of sadness in her eyes, Flame looked away for a minute, and then did his best to smile, Faith just smiled awkwardly, and extended her hoof out, and they both shook .

"yeah that was me, I wish we could have met in a better place, though" she said as they stopped shaking, they all remained awkwardly silent, until Dark Star came around the corner, with Solar Glaze, when he looked up, he was surprised to see Flame, but was happy none the less.

"Hey there Flame, what brings you here, and who's your friend?" he asked with a smile, gesturing to Faith, as he took off the brace and walked over to them, as did Solar Glaze, "hey uncle Flame" he said with a smile, Flame smiled back at them, "oh we were just out for a walk, this is Faith, probably one of my oldest friends, I've known her longer than anypony, I met her long before I met you Dark Star" he said with a smile, Faith just smiled at them kindly, and Dark Star smiled back.

"Well, in that case, it's a pleasure to meet you Miss Faith, any friend of Flame is a friend of ours, your welcome here anytime, care for some apples for the road?" he said turning to Flame, who just shook his head, "no thanks, were just out for a walk, and decided to stop by, we should get going, see you guys later" he said as they turned and made their way back to the dirt road that would take that back to PonyVille, after they left Applejack and Dark Star went back to their daily business.

After they returned to town, they decided to go back to the library, they had already been out for a few hours, Twilight was probably getting worried again, like she always did, but as they got closer, they decided to take a short cut through an alleyway, and they looked in all direction, and went inside, unbeknownst to them, that a unfamiliar hooded stallion followed them into the alley.

As they walked, Flame knew they were being followed, as well as Faith, "Flame, you see that stallion following us?" she asked, not looking back, Flame just kept a straight face and nodded his head, "yeah I see him" he said, as he started to get closer, "what should we do, you think we can take him" she said as looked out of the corner of their eyes, Flame shook his head, "you're in no condition to fight, I'll handle it" he said, as the stallion came up right behind him, Flame looked behind him and swung around.

"why are you following-" he was about to ask when he turned around, only to stare into the muzzle of a pistol, that the stallion was holding, Flame's yes widened in surprise, but he remained calm, Faith had a scared look on her face, he pushed her behind him.

"well, well, well, what's a nice couple like you doing out here in this alley, not the safest place" he said as he pointed the pistol right in Flame's face, Flame just looked behind him and saw two other hooded ponies walking up behind them, he looked at Faith, and saw the scared look in her eyes, he then turned back to the stallion holding the gun, "were not a couple, I'm a married stallion, were just friends" he said staring at him with an angry look on his face.

The hooded stallion just smiled, and Flame spoke up, "what is it that you want?" he asked and the stallion's smile grew wider, "our boss, would like to have a word with your friend there, and we've been sent to get her, so if you will kindly come with us, there won't be any problems" he said, Flame glared at him, these were no more than a common street thug, but he did look like he could fight, Flame was about to test that theory.

"if you want her, you'll have to get through me" he said, and the stallion placed the pistol under Flame's chin, and angry look appeared on his face, but then he just smiled, "you know, even if you said you were a couple, I probably would have believed it, seeing how her husband gets captures, and she just moves on to another sorry stallion, you friend there is nothing more than a whore" he said as he chuckled and the other did as well, Flame only got angrier, nopony insults his friends.

"if I were you, wouldn't call her that again" Flame said glaring intensely at him, the stallion just laughed, "ooh, and what are you going to do about it, protect your little whore-" he said but was cut off when Flame dodged to the side and punched the stallion in the face, making him fall to the ground, he turned and saw the other stallions, charging at him, Faith dodged to the side, and one of them tackled Flame to the ground, but Flame quickly kicked him off, and saw the third one coming from behind, Flame merely balanced on his front hooves and kicked him in the chest, sending him flying against the wall.

Flame was right, they did know how to fight, but not nearly as good as he was, being trained like a master, these guys were trained in street brawling, and every attack they tried, Flame easily countered or dodged their attack, even at an older age, Flame could still fight as well as he could years ago, since he was still in his prime.

Faith just watched as Flame and the other two stallions fought it out, but she failed to notice the first one sneak up behind her, she gasped out in shock when he grabbed her around the neck from behind, he pulled a knife out and put it around her neck, she tried struggling but was too weak, Flame was right, she was in no condition to fight, he just laughed and pushed her up against the wall, with a sick smile on his face, she was too weak to fight back, all she could do, was stare fearfully into his eyes.

"Even if you get away, it's all pointless, your husband is dead" he said, Faith's eyes shot open in shock and fear, "no! No you're lying!" she shouted as she squirmed but he held a firm grip, "look in my eyes, does it look like I'm lying, he's dead, and your to blame, all you had to do was give yourself up, and maybe you could have died together, but I'll tell you a secret, he screamed like a pig, and begged for mercy, begged to see you one last time" he said with a sinister smile, Faith felt her anger boil to a point, she didn't want to hear this stallion's lies.

"You're lying!" she screamed as she broke free, fueled by an new sense of strength, she punched him in the face, and tackled him to the ground, and began punching him repeatedly, screaming out in rage, "your lying! Where is he? What did you do with my husband?!" she cried out as she continued to punch him unrelenting, she heard a voice inside her telling her to stop before she killed him, it took a few seconds for her to realize it was Flame running up to her, telling her to stop.

She finally stopped, when Flame pulled her off, but even then she tried to break free of his grip, but he was to strong, she felt her rage begin to die down, as Flame held her close, "Faith, it's okay, we can't get information out of him, if he's dead, let me talk to him, I'll find out as much information as possible, just let me talk to him" he said trying to calm her down, she took a deep breath, and looked at him, her breathing slowed to normal, "okay" she said, and Flame walked over to the stallion.

He picked him up, and pushed him against the wall, he was bleeding all over, he had blood trickling down from his nose, his lips, he had a black eye, and actually had a few teeth missing, Faith really did a number on him, when he looked up, and Flame saw the absolute fear in his eyes.

"please…don't kill me" he begged, Flame was shocked that he was the one begging not to be killed, when just minutes ago, he was the one threatening him, but he pushed that though aside, and looked at him, a much calmer face, but still angry, "I'm not going to kill you, just tell me what I want to know" he said, and the stallion nodded, "yes, yes I'll tell you anything" he said, Flame took a minute to think of a question, and then turned to him, "first of all, who sent you?" he asked, the stallion just looked at him in fear, but answered his question, "the leader of the Kings, he sent us, he wanted us to bring her to him" he said gesturing to Faith, Flame looked at her and then back to the stallion.

"Alright, where can we find them?" he asked the stallion thought for a moment, and then looked back at Flame, "their headquarters is on the outskirts of Manehatten, I've only been there a few times, it's an old abandoned mansion" he said, Flame could tell he was telling the truth, he looked to the side and then thought of his final question, and turned to him.

"final question, is her husband really dead?" he asked, the stallion looked at Faith, who had an angry look on her face, Flame shook him, "answer the question" he said loudly, the stallion had tears coming out of his eyes.

"I don't know, I swear I don't know, I asked but the boss wouldn't tell me, but he's being kept in the mansion, that's all I know, I swear, please don't kill me" he begged, Flame looked at Faith, and saw the sad look in her eyes, he let go of the stallion and he crawled away, Flame stepped in front of Faith, she let out a cry as she wrapped her hooves around him, he just shushed her and did his best to comfort her.

"it's okay, I'm sure he's alive, we'll find him, I promise you Faith, you will see him again" he said, she let go and wiped the tears from her eyes, "okay, thank you Flame, I don't know what I'd do without you" she said as they slowly made their way out of the alley, and back to the library, luckily Flame didn't have any visible wounds, so Twilight wouldn't panic, but they would have a long journey ahead.

**A/N: well thee you have it, like I said it would get more interesting, hope you all enjoyed, and as always, see you next time.**


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: hey everyone, I'm back with another chapter for this story, and we are getting closer to the end for this story, hope you enjoy.**

**Faith in the Past: chapter 7: journey to Manehatten**

After they left the alley, Faith and Flame made their way back to the library, despite easily overpowering the two attackers, Flame still walked with a slight limp, he knew it wouldn't go unnoticed by Twilight; he made a promise to Faith, that he would help her, but he knew it wouldn't be easy to explain it to Twilight.

"I don't understand this, why are you leaving?" Twilight asked, as Flame walked around their bedroom, Flame was already getting annoyed, they had been married for many years know, but they still disagreed on things, just as any other married couple would, "I can't keep arguing with you about this Twilight, I made Faith a promise, I have to help her, I have to go and help her find her husband, it's the only way, I'm sorry" he said as he walked past her, Twilight knew she was losing this fight, but she tried to be persistent.

"But, you don't know what you're walking into, these ponies are dangerous, you could get hurt" she said following him down the stairs, he let out a small laugh, "Twi, I've seen their fighting skill, they're nothing more than street thugs, they don't know the first thing about real fighting, I'll be fine" he said as they walked into the main room, where Faith was waiting, she had a frown on her face, as he walked up to her.

Night Gale and Star Dust were waiting there to, they had straight looks on their faces, "Flame, I don't want to come between you and your family, if you have to stay, I completely understand, I think I can handle myself" she said with a sad look on her face, Flame smiled at her.

"It's okay, they'll be fine" he said trying to smile, Twilight frowned and looked down for a minute, but just as they were walking towards the door, she got an idea.

"Flame, wait" she said as she ran up to him, "let us come with you" she said, with a smile, Flame looked at her with a confused look, "now that is a crazy idea-" he said but was cut off by Twilight raising her hoof up to his mouth, "now you listen, your my husband, you're not going anywhere without us, we are coming with you, whether you like it or not, we stick together as a family" she said with a smile, Flame smiled at her, "alright then, you win, get some things together, we'll meet you at the train station" he said, Twilight smiled and turned and walked up the stairs, "come on kids" she called and Night Gale and Star Dust quickly ran up after her.

After they packed, they headed out of the library, and made their way to the station, where they all purchased tickets, for the next train to Manehatten, and as soon as the conductor ushered them on board, the train whistle blew loudly, and the train slowly began to pull out of the station, and headed for the big city.

(Outskirts of Manehatten, Manehatten King's main headquarters)

Dawn sat in the cell that he was thrown into after he got captured, he couldn't help but wonder why, they even kept him alive, he thought of if, Faith escaped, he couldn't bear the thought of losing her, it would completely crush him, he had already lost a dear family member, and he couldn't bear to lose another especially since they had so much in their future, Faith and Dawn had been married for a few months, and they have talked about having a foal, but they never found the time to be alone, Dawn was always running the group, and watching for any activity that might lead to another war.

He was brought from his thoughts, when he door on the other side of the room opened, and in walked a group of ponies, followed by two others, one he recognized as his traitorous friend, the other was the leader of the Kings, he walked right up to the cell, Dawn just remained there, quiet.

"I have a bit of good news for you, my scouts have confirmed that your wife is returning to Manehatten to rescue you, and it appears she brought some friends, I just thought you should know" he said, Dawn just stayed still, "I suppose you're just going to kill her as well, you want me dead, why not kill me now, like you did my father" he said anger rising in his voice.

The leader just chuckled, "well, I was planning on letting you see her again, so you can say goodbye, but I could kill you now, if that's what you want, and as for your father, I hope there's no hard feelings, it was strictly business, I assure you" he said, Dawn stood up and walked over to the bars, anger evident in his eyes, "business?! You killed him during a peace treaty meeting, he wanted nothing more than peace between the groups, and you killed him in cold blood" he said, but the leader just smiled.

"Yes well, when you are in control of the biggest mercenary group in the city, there are certain rules you break, if you want to reach the top, and keep yourself there, I'll see to it, that you get to see your wife one more time, but for now, enjoy your stay" he said as he left the room chuckling, all except for Iron Star, who just stood there looking at him, Dawn glared at him and sat down again.

Iron Star took a step forward, "I don't understand it, all you have to do is join him, and you and Faith can be together, why won't you think it through" he said, Dawn didn't even look at him, "because I'm not a sell out like you, I refuse to serve him, that cruel bastard, I thought you would be better than that Iron Star, I thought you were my friend, we all trusted you, Faith trusted you, I trusted you, and what do I get, a knife in the back, if you think that this is the right way out of it, then I can't see us being friend anymore, not if you're like them" he said as he as he turned away from him fully.

Iron Star felt a pang of guilt in his heart, he knew he was right, he betrayed his best friend, he turned and slowly walked out of the room, and his head hung low in shame, Dawn just listened and heard the door slam shut, leaving him alone to his thoughts.

(Manehatten, train station)

Later that day, the train from PonyVille pulled into the station, and Flame and all the others walked on to the platform, they looked at the large city in front of them, it wasn't the first time they'd been there, Flame and Twilight had taken vacations there, for their anniversaries, and when they got older, they would come on vacation with Night Gale and Star Dust.

Flame took a deep breath, and gagged slightly, he wasn't used to the smog filled sky of the big city, he was more used to the fresh clean air, of a town like PonyVille, but he never did memorize the city, he turned to Faith a smiled.

"it's been some time since I was here, I don't think I remember the city very well, it guess it's up to you, lead the way" he said gesturing or her to go in front, she took a step in front, she had a small smile on her face, "lucky for us, we don't need to go into the city, we'll go to the Nightfall Fighters headquarters, it's about two miles outside the city, we'll have to walk, hope you're not tired already, because you probably will be" she said with a smile, Night Gale and Star Dust gave a annoyed groan, Flame simply smiled.

"I think we can handle a two mile walk, we'll be fine" he said with a smile, Faith smiled back, and they left the train station, and made their way to the outskirts of the city.

**A/N: well that's all for now, more chapters will be up later, hope you enjoyed, see you all next time, peace.**


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: here it is, the next chapter for this story, this will be one of the last chapters, after this, there will probably be about…two or three more chapters, and then it will be finished, hope you enjoy.**

**Faith in the Past: chapter 8: return to base**

After they walked the long two miles, they found themselves on the outskirts of the city, in what seemed to be the farming area, Faith told them about the base being under an old abandoned storage warehouse, and that it was not far, despite the long walk, the only two complaining, were Night Gale and Star Dust, who whined the entire time.

"how much longer, even in school they didn't make us walk this much" Night Gale groaned, Flame chuckled, he had endured much more than a simple two mile walk, "I have barely broken a sweat, now stop your complaining" he said as Faith stopped them, "were here" she said pointing off the road, the followed to where she was pointing, and saw a large warehouse, a couple yards off the road, they started walking across the small field, and up to the building.

Faith was right, it really was old, the widows were boarded up, and it seemed in bad condition, they walked up to the large set of doors, much to Faith's confusion, the door was slightly open, and she slowly pushed it open, and they all walked inside, much to their surprise, despite it being rundown, the power was still on, they looked around, "um, Faith, are you sure this is the right place, all I see are large boxes and crates everywhere" he said, and he was right, it looked like any ordinary warehouse, large stacks of boxes all the way to the back of the main building.

They started making their way to the middle of the room, to their confusion, Faith kept looking around, as if looking for somepony, when they came to a small clearing in the middle of the room, they saw nothing but boxes all around them, "okay, I think you got the wrong warehouse, there plenty that look like this all across the area, let's go" Flame said as him and his family began to turn around, but Faith said nothing, and just as they turned around, out of nowhere, a large amount of ponies, hoped over the boxes, came from the small paths, or just flew or teleported, all forming a large circle around them, causing Flame and his family to back up.

"why do I always end up being wrong" Flame asked himself as they all backed into a corner, even faith didn't seem to know what was going on, just as they did, they saw a young female pony walk up to them, "who are you and what are you doing here, this is a restricted place" she said, she had a mask on, making it hard to see her face, but Faith recognized her voice, she looked at all of them, and then turned back to the female pony staring at her.

"Summer, it's me, Faith" she said taking down her hood, all the ponies gasped, the leader gasped and took off her mask, revealing a young Pegasus, "Faith, it really is you" she said as she ran up to her and threw her hooves around Faith, Faith did the same, "I'm so happy you're alright, what happened, where did you go?" she started asking, Faith merely chuckled, "I'll explain later, let's get back to the base" she said as they all started walking, but a group of ponies surrounded Flame and his family.

"um, Faith, mind telling your friends were with you" Flame said in a nervous tone, she turned to him and smiled, "it's okay guys, they're with me, their friends to us, they mean no harm, they are here to help" she said, all the ponies around them lowered their weapons, and began to walk with them, Faith got between the Pegasus and Flame, "Flame, this is Summer, Dawn's younger sister, and my sister-in-law, she takes over when the both of us are gone, a gifted leader, and very honorable" she said, Summer blushed, as she walked up to Flame, and they shook hooves, "nice to meet you, sorry about that, any friend of Faith's is welcome here" she said as they all walked to the far end of the room, where she walked up to a small box on the wall, she lifted the lid to reveal a small scanner of sorts.

She brought her hoof up and placed it on the screen, it scanned her hoof, and then a loud mechanical wiring happened, and to their amazement, the wall next to it began to slid open, revealing an elevator, that only seemed to go down, they watched as Faith and Summer got on and turned to them, "aren't you coming?" Summer asked, giving Flame a sly wink, making him uneasy, but they got on, and the door closed and the elevator hummed as it slowly went down, all of them standing there in an awkward silence, it took a few minutes, but the elevator stopped and the door opened.

Revealing a long hallway, Faith and Summer started walking down, Flame and his family soon followed, there was nothing in the hallway, aside from the lamps that lighted the way, it wasn't very long, but they eventually came up to a door, Faith looked at Summer and they both pushed open the door, they all walked in, and were amazed at what they saw.

It was a large room, filled with computers; ponies were walking around, doing their jobs, Faith turned to Flame and his family, a bright smile on her face.

"welcome, to the Nightfall Fighters headquarters" she said with a smile as they walked up to the main console, where another pony was working with others, on trying to get them back online, "well, hurry up, we need these things running" he said to the others, Summer took a step forward, and cleared her throat.

The stallion turned and smiled at her, "Summer, glad to see your back" he said walking up to her, Summer moved to the side, "look who I found" she said with a smile, the stallion glanced at Faith, and a wide smile appeared, he walked up to her and threw his hooves around her neck, "thank Celestia your safe, we thought we lost you, too" he said with relief, just as he glanced back at Flame, a serious look came on his face.

"what are they doing here, you know Dawn doesn't like outsiders here, take them back" he said, Faith put a hoof on his shoulder, "relax, there with me, they want to help" she said, he gave her a warning look and then shrugged and spoke up, "you've been gone for a few days, come, we'll update you in the briefing room" he said as they all walked down the hall.

(Later…)

After they walked down another hall, they came to a large room, with a long table in it and multiple places to sit, the stallion took a seat the front, Faith and summer took seats across from each other, Flame and his family did the same.

The stallion cleared his throat, "well, as I'm sure you've guessed by now, Dawn was captured during your escape, we believe that he was taken to their headquarters on the other side of the city, we don't know his condition yet, and they haven't sent a message of any kind" he said leaning over the table, Faith looked away sadly, but took a deep breath, "what about Iron Star, did he escape, where is he?" she asked, the stallion turned to Summer with a sad look, she greatly returned it, the stallion then turned back to Faith.

"that's the problem, as painful as it is, Iron Star is a traitor, he betrayed Dawn, and helped them capture him, we don't have any idea why, but he's one of them now" he said with a solemn look, Faith looked at the ground in sadness, she had known Iron Star, he and Dawn had been the best of friends for years, aside from her, Iron Star was the only other one he could trust completely.

The stallion took a deep breath and turned to Faith, "we have been trying to find a way to get him back, but we don't have the numbers, now that you're here again, you need to lead us, and get Dawn back" he said with confidence, she looked away for a minute, and then back at him, "if Iron Star betrayed him, then he betrayed all of us, but how can we get him out, if he's at the Kings' headquarters, it will be highly guarded, we can't just walk in there and break him out" she said with sadness in her eyes.

The entire time Flame and his family listened to the conversation, Flame hated to see his friend in pain, he knew what it felt like to lose a loved one, he wouldn't let her feel that pain, he stood up, catching all of their attention, "wait! I have an idea" he said, they all waited for him to continue, "they haven't sent any message to us, so we send one to them, we send them a peace offering, we go and meet with their leader, and try to negotiate for Dawn's safe return" he said, the stallion gave a slight chuckle.

"well, I see multiple problems with your idea, first why would we do that, it would be like walking into a trap, that's what happened to Dawn's father, he went to the Kings hoping to make peace, and they killed him during a peace meeting, their leader doesn't play fair, the second we go there he will try to kill us" he said, Flame laughed, "not if we have the upper hoof, you may not know it, but Faith and I used to work together, long ago, we have dealt with situations like this, we know the way to trick these guys, I know a nice little spell, that will work" he said.

The stallion gave a unimpressed laugh and turned to Faith, who was looking at Flame, and then turned to look at the table, "the choice is yours, but do you really believe this guy, he's proposing a suicide mission" he said to her, Faith continued to look at the table, she closed her eyes, and then gave a slight chuckle.

"no, he's right, I did work with him before all this, we have pulled things off like this, it's really quite simple, you both know that when Dawn's not here, I'm in charge, and I say we go through with his plan" she said looking up at Flame with a smile.

(Later that day…)

After leaving the briefing room, they returned to the main hall, and went to record a message to the King's, Faith told him exactly what to say, and he typed it in to the machine, when he was done, the pony behind the console, removed the headset and turned to Faith.

"the message has been sent as you asked, they should be receiving it soon" he said, Faith turned to Flame, "I really hope you know what you're doing" she said with concern, Flame gave her a simple smile, "I have a few tricks up my sleeve, you'll see him again, I promise" he said as they all walked out of the room.

(Outskirts of Manehatten, Manehatten King's headquarters)

The leader walked into the main room, and angry look on his face, he had been interrupted from his dinner, when one of his guards told him they had received a message.

"there had better be a good explanation for this" he said walking up to the pony behind the console, the pony turned around, a nervous look on his face, "yes sir it is, we have just received a message from Faith of the Nightfall Fighters" he said, the leader's eyes opened in shock, but they narrowed, "what does it say?" he asked.

"We're not sure it hasn't fully come through" he said as he turned back to the table, as the small machine began to click, as a small piece of paper, came through, only covered in dots, but in a specific order, that only the pony in front of the console could read, he took it and turned to the leader.

His eyes widened as he started reading it to himself, he looked up at the leader who waited patiently, "it's…it's from the Nightfall Fighters, they wish to exchange peace for the safe return of their leader Dawn" he said and looked up at the leader, who had a suspicious look on his face, he turned for a moment and thought.

A minute later he looked up and smiled, his second-in-command walked up to him, "it could be our chance to finish them off, without leadership they will fall apart" he said, the leader smiled and he turned back to the pony at the console.

"Very well, tell them we accept, and that it will be conducted here" he said with a sinister smile, the pony turned back to the console and began responding to the message, the leader turned and walked out of the room, a wide grin on his face.

**A/N: well, there you have it, only about two or three more chapters to go, and then the story will be finished, hope you all enjoyed, and see you all next time.**


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: well here it is, the second to last chapter for this story, one more chapter after this, and then it's on to the finale, hope you all enjoy.**

**Faith in the Past: chapter 9: the rescue mission**

After they had received the message, about the Kings accepting their proposal, Flame and Faith, as well as a small amount of their soldiers gathered to the armory, to get their gear ready, and prepare, Flame was told of the leader's cheating ways, but he had a few tricks in mind, he promised that Faith would see her husband again, and he intended to keep that promise.

Flame was busy putting on his knife and pistol holster, when Faith walked up to him, dressed in a cloak, her hood down, "are you sure you can do this?" she asked, Flame gave a chuckle, "I'm the one who should be asking you that, think you can handle a little fighting, but just so you know, I have a plan, I made you a promise, and I will keep it" he said, Faith smiled at him, and pushed her cloak to the side, revealing a knife and pistol of her own.

Just as they finished Flame's family walked up to him, Twilight had a sad look on her face, he walked up to her and smiled, "don't worry about me, I told you before, these are nothing but street thugs, they don't know the first thing about real fighting, I'll be back before you know it" he said pulling her into a hug, she hugged him back, when they let go, and he did the same for his son and daughter.

After they said their goodbyes, they left the base, and headed for the city, the King's headquarters was on the other side of town, it would be a long walk, until they get there.

(Later that day…)

It was a very long walk, most of the time they remained silent, until they reached the old, abandoned mansion that was used as their main base.

They stood in front of it, just like the warehouse it was not a suitable living place anymore, it had been abandoned for years, and left to decay, they looked around them, knowing that they were probably being watched, Faith looked up at Flame, "are you sure about this?" she asked him, he looked back at her with a smile, "Dawn's in there somewhere, you will see him again, now let's move" he said as they slowly started walking towards the building.

As they slowly got closer they saw the main front door open, and a group of ponies walk out to them, they stopped, Flame in front, they stopped in front of each other, "this is a restricted area, state your business" one of them said, in a flat tone, Flame cleared his throat, "faith wishes to talk with your leader, about negotiating peace, between the factions" he said, the ponies looked at each other, "ah yes, he's been expecting you, follow us" the other one said as they turned and started walking back to the building.

They all looked at each other before moving to follow them, everything seemed to go as planned as they entered the building, after walking into what they assumed was the greeting room, they looked all around, more of the other groups soldiers began to form around them, and they stopped in the middle of the room, and the ponies turned around, as Faith stepped forward, they cleared a hole, and a familiar looking pony walked up to them, Faith had never met the leader face to face, but heard of him, that he was a brutal leader, and crushed anypony who tried to speak against him, and from what she saw, she could tell they were true.

He smiled as he walked up to her; she walked up to him, and removed her hood, "my apologies Miss Faith, I'm sure this must all be uneasy for you, but I hope we can get through this a painlessly as possible, now, your terms are?" he said as he waited patiently, giving a fake smile, she knew he was up to something, she looked back at Flame, he winked at her.

She slowly turned back to face him, and took a deep breath, "we will give you a large portion of our territory, in exchange for the safe return of my husband, the terms are simple enough, I hope we can come to an agreement" she said, the leader looked away for a minute, he slowly started pacing back and forth, she could tell he was thinking about it, Faith was ready for any move he might make.

Just as he finished pacing, he turned away from her, and let out a small laugh, but didn't turn to face her, "you know, running a group like this isn't the easiest thing, it takes time and effort, your husband is a great leader, no doubt about it, just like his father, but as I told him, when you are a leader, you do whatever it takes to keep your group going, even if you have to play dirty, I'm afraid I must decline your most generous offer, instead of taking a portion of your territory, I think I will take it all!" he said as he quickly reached under his cloak, and pulled out a pistol, quickly turning around, he aimed the pistol at Faith and fired.

The boom echoed off the walls, as the bullet tore into Faith's chest, and sent her back, the impact sent her to the ground, she fell on to her side, the leader smiled as she fell, but quickly frowned when he realized nopony ran to help her, they just stood there, watching him.

He was about to ask what this was all about, when one of the other hooded ponies walked and stood in front of him, "what is this?" he asked, the pony merely smiled under the hood, and lifted her hoof up, to reveal her face, the leader's jaw nearly dropped to the floor, there standing before him, was none other than Faith, he was literally speechless, he looked at the pony he shot and saw nothing but an unused cloak.

Faith smiled at him, "nice trick right" she said as she turned around and lifted her weight on to her front hooves and kicked the leader in the chest, sending him into the wall, he fell and didn't move, the second-in-command, turned to them with an angry glare.

"Kill them!" he shouted, and they all charged, Flame removed his hood, and turned to see two charging at him, just when they were close enough, he bent down and ran forward, and they fell over him, and Flame threw them to the others side of the room, Faith turned and saw three running at her, knives drawn, she extended her wings and flew in the air, making them all collide with each other.

Despite being outnumbered, Flame and Faith were the better fighters, and in a matter of minutes, all the attackers were taken out, Flame turned to Faith and took a deep breath, he looked at one of the ponies still conscious, he lifted him up and pinned him against the wall, his horn started glowing.

"Just one question, where is Dawn being held?" he asked, the pony looked up at him in fear, "he's in the prison cell room, a few floors down, you can take the stairs, you can't miss it" he said with fear, Flame smiled and threw him to the side, and they ran down the hall, just as the leader pushed himself up, he watched as they ran down the hall and out of sight, he growled and got up, running after them.

(King's headquarters, prison cell)

Dawn paced back and forth in his cell, he heard of Faith's meeting with the leader, he was too nervous to stay still, and it didn't help, when he heard the gunshot, he looked outside the cell, and saw Iron Star pacing as well, "I swear if he has done anything to hurt Faith, I will hold you responsible, if she gets hurt, I will never forgive you, this is all your fault!" he shouted getting u against the bars, the room was filled with only four other guards.

Iron Star, looked at him and then sighed, looking away, he could understand why Dawn was angry, he never wanted any of this, never wanted anypony to get hurt, especially Faith, she was a close friend, and Dawn was his best friend since foalhood, he felt a deep pang of guilt.

A few minutes passed, and Dawn got tired of pacing and sat in the corner, the room fell dead silent, they couldn't hear any activity outside the room, but just as one of the guards was about to speak up, they heard a knocking on the door, they all looked at each other, and one of the guards started walking up to the door, suddenly a loud explosion filled the room, as the door was blown off its hinges, and flew to the other side of the room.

The smoke filled the room; Dawn stood up and ran to the bars, just as the smoke cleared, revealing a group of ponies, only one of the looked familiar, "Dawn!" Faith cried out in sheer joy, just as two of the other guards charged at them, flame quickly knocked them out, leaving only one guard left, the one on the other side of the bars, before he could charge out, Dawn reached around the bars, and grabbed him by the neck, "alone at last" he said as he hit him over the head, instantly knocking him out.

Faith ran up to the bars, Flame ran over and shot a blast of magic at the lock, breaking it, Faith ran in and up to Dawn, throwing her hooved around his neck, crying out in joy, Dawn did the same, his eyes welling up in tears, "Faith, I thought I would never see you again" he said as he hugged her back, Faith had tears falling down her face as they faced each other, their lips pressed together in a passionate kiss, that lasted a few minutes, when they separated, he placed his hoof on her cheek, "it's going to be okay" he said as he turned to the unicorn, who stood there smiling at them, Faith saw this and turned to him.

"Flame, this is my husband Dawn" she said, Dawn extend out a hoof, Flame smiled at they shook, "nice to finally meet you, Faith would always talk about you, I can't thank you enough" he said, but Flame raised his hoof, "no need to thank me, Faith is one of my oldest friends, I would do anything for her, now come on, let's get out of here" he said as they started making their way to the room, despite not being injured, Dawn was still weak, he was being supported by Faith, but just as they made their way to the door, they heard a chilling laugh.

"oh, I don't think you're going anywhere" came a familiar voice, they looked and saw the leader walking in to the room, with two other guards following him, when they stopped they all pulled out pistols, and aimed them at Flame and his friends.

"isn't this a nice little reunion, but sadly it won't last, but now that you two are together, I can finish you both off, you two have been a pain, for the longest time, so now it's time to end this" he said, aiming the pistol, Flame stepped in front of them, he unsheathed his knife with his magic, and got in a fighting stance, the leader simply laughed.

"oh, so you two have a new bodyguard is that it, not very bright, don't bother risking your life for theirs, move out of the way" he said but Flame stood his ground, "I don't take to kindly to ponies who threaten my friends" he said and the leader let out another laugh, "is that so, in case you haven't noticed, there's three of us, and we have pistols, but if you want to end your life, so be it" he said, Flame merely chuckled, "true, but you've never faced a fighting style like mine" he said getting the knife ready, his horn glowing brighter, the leader frowned and turned to his guards, lowering his pistol.

"kill him" he said to them, and they raised their pistols and fired off, the bullets came straight at Flame, but his horn glowed and the bullets hit an invisible barrier, that he put around them, he smiled and they leader looked at him with shocked eyes, Flame made the first move and charged forward, knife at the ready.

The two guards charged at him, but he simply lowered his head and threw them over him, and they landed on the far side of the room, Flame turned to deal with them, Faith was about to turn and help, but she was kicked away by the leader, "Faith!" Dawn cried out as he turned to fight, but was met by a buck to the chest, sending him a few feet back.

When he tried to push himself up, the leader took out his pistol, and aimed it at him, "say hello to you father for me" he said, but stopped when an angry cry came from his side, he didn't have time to turn and look as he was pushed to the side, he dropped the pistol, and rolled to a stop, he slowly looked up and saw Faith helping Dawn up, he looked to his side and saw his pistol, he grabbed it and ran after them.

Flame was busy fighting the other guards to notice, despite being a better fighter, he wasn't the sharpest, it had been a while since he fought like that, but after fighting them off, he turned to see the leader stop in front of Faith and Dawn.

They looked on in fear, as the leader stopped in front of them, pistol raised, "that's it! I'm through messing around, time to die!" he said, as he aimed it at Dawn, but just as he was about to pull the trigger, they heard a shouting come from their right, they all turned and saw a pony run in front of them, and jump just as the pistol went off.

The pony went crashing to the floor, and didn't get up, Dawn looked closer and saw that it was none other than Iron Star, clutching the bleeding wound on his chest, Dawn was about to say something, "you fool! I should have known you would risk your pathetic life, for his" the leader said, looking at Iron Star.

Dawn turned to him with an angry look on his face, he removed Faith's hoof and took a step forward, the leader turned to him with a confused look, but merely laughed, "oh, now you're going to challenge me, fine, I'll take you out myself" he said as he threw the pistol to the side, and took out his knife, Dawn looked at the ground and picked up one of the knives that the guards dropped, and got in a fighting position, Faith watched with fearful eyes, Flame was also watching amazed.

The leader and Dawn stared each other, just then, they charged out at each other, time seemed to slow as they got closer, being a Pegasus, Dawn spread his wings and took off lightly into the air, and held his knife, and they got closer, the leader pointed his knife in front of him, just when they were a few feet in front of each other, Dawn landed and thrust the knife forward, as the leader did the same, and the sound of metal piercing flesh as heard.

From there angle, Faith and Flame couldn't see, aside from Dawn and the leader standing in front of each other, Dawn and the leader stared at each other angrily, but just as they did, the leader took a step to the side, as if he lost his balance, he looked down and saw Dawn's knife was buried in his chest, he looked up at Dawn, with shock in his eyes, Dawn thrust the knife in deeper making the leader cough up blood, Dawn leaned in and whispered in his ear, "for my father" he said as he let go of the knife, and the leader fell to the ground, his eyes open but not moving, Dawn instantly could tell he was dead.

Faith took a step forward and so did Flame, Dawn turned and ran over to his friend who was clutching his wound, Faith and Flame joined him, Dawn ran to his side as he turned his head, "Dawn…I'm sorry, this is all my fault…" he said as he coughed up some blood, Dawn shushed him and went to help his wound but was stopped by Iron Star, "let me help you" Dawn said, Iron Star smiled at him, "this is what I deserve, for putting you through this, you and Faith, I never wanted you two to get hurt, for everything I've done, I'm so sorry" he said in a low tone, Dawn could feel tears welling up in his eyes, as he held his friends hoof, his breathing growing lower, and his eyes closing, 'I'm sorry, Dawn" he said as he closed his eyes, Dawn let out a quiet sob, as he felt his friend's body go limp.

He sat there crying, Faith had tears welling up in her eyes, Flame looked away sadly, he may have not known him, but it was still sad, to see a pony lose a friend.

Later, they held a personal funeral for him, they burned his body as they did in the older days, Flame and all of them turned and left, making the long journey back to their base, it was a long day, filled with sadness.

**A/N: well there you have it, there will be one more chapter, and it will be up later, hope you all enjoyed, and see you guys next time.**


	11. epilogue

**A/N: finally, here it is my friends, the last chapter to this story, I hope you have enjoyed it; it sure was fun writing it, enjoy the last chapter.**

**Faith in the Past: epilogue**

After they made the walk back, they stayed for the day to heal any wounds, Dawn was tended to, and fully recovered from any injuries, Flame sustained minor injuries, some light cuts and bruises, but they all healed easily, as part of his thanks, Dawn let them stay there for the night, so they could get ready to leave in the morning.

Soon, morning came and they all left, Dawn and Faith escorted them, to the city train station to catch the next train back to PonyVille.

(Manehatten, train station)

As they got to the platform, they all waited for the train, Faith walked up to Flame and his family, "Flame, I can't thank you enough, for everything you've done, we should get together again sometime, hopefully, when were not all in danger" she said with a laugh, Flame chuckled, "yeah, and this time, make sure to stay in touch" he said, and they all laughed, and then they fell silent, Faith looked up at Flame with a straight look.

"What are you all going to do now?" she asked looking at all of them, Flame glanced back at his family, who just merely smiled at him, he smiled back and turned to face Faith, "I guess we just return home, carry out our lives like normal, the same as always" he said, Faith was about to say something but Dawn walked up beside her with a smile, "here's the tickets, train should be here in a few minutes" he said with a smile, Flame took them and put them in his bag.

Flame turned to Dawn and sighed, "So…what's going to happen now, the King's will most likely fall apart, and the other groups are almost destroyed, what happens to your group?" Flame asked, Dawn looked away for a minute, feeling the wind blow through his mane.

"To tell you the truth, I'm not sure, some of the members of the Kings have already offered to join us, making our group twice as large, I guess we are the biggest group in the city now, and we owe it all to you, if it wasn't for you, I would have never seen my wife again, or probably even be alive, I owe so much, you and your family will always be welcome here, feel free to stop by anytime" he said with a smile.

Flame smiled back and they shook hooves, "I'm sure we can arrange to come out here every once in a while, you two take care now, don't get into any more trouble" he said, as the train engine whistled and pulled into the train station, they looked and saw the ponies getting off the train and some boarding.

Faith stepped forward, and leaned up, giving Flame a peck on the cheek, Flame smiled and pulled her into a hug, it caught her off guard but she hugged him back, they soon separated and turned to each other, "see you around Flame" she said in a kindly tone, he smiled back at her, "yeah, see you around" he said as they made their way to the train and got on board.

They took their seats and looked out the window, they saw Dawn and Faith watching them and waving, Dawn had his hoof around Faith's shoulder, and she had her head rested against his chest, as they both waved, the train whistle screamed loudly as the train began to leave the station.

Flame and his family sat back down and enjoyed the ride; the train was fully out of the station and at full speed, taking them back to the peaceful town of PonyVille, back to their home.

**A/N: well…there you have it, that was the last chapter, but have no fear, Flame's journey still isn't complete, there are darker times ahead, something that will prove, that even the mightiest of heroes' can fall, see you all next time, for the epic finale, that will the seal the fate of all our favorite hero's.**


End file.
